I slip out of the auditorium quickly and can hear someone coming up behind me. I quicken my steps but they have caught up to me…
"Hey, Hales, Hales!" Lucas grabs my shoulder to stop me.
I swipe my hand across my cheeks so that he doesn't see the tears that have fallen as I turn around.
"You alright?" he asks me.
"Yeah, sure, I'm fine," I force a smile as fake as the one Nathan had up on stage.
Lucas purses his lips together in thought. He knows me too well. He knows when I'm lying.
"No, Hales, you're not."
"Well, it doesn't really matter…I have to be," I explain weakly.
"I know it's not easy for you – to come back here and see how everything has changed," Lucas replies.
"Well, I left this place behind…places change, people change…I would have been naïve to think otherwise," I respond to him.
"I know this thing with Nathan and Rachel—" he begins.
"—is none of my business," I cut him off, not wanting to hear more.
I had already heard the story: Rachel had been one of the people in Cooper's car that night. Cooper had been tired of seeing Nathan moping around over the annulment, so he had arranged for his "flavor of the week" Jennifer to bring a friend along for a double date with Nathan and Cooper. The 'friend' turned out to be THHS transfer student and Maxim's "Hometown Hottie," Rachel Gatina. The two girls had done some modeling together and had become instant friends.
I never got the details on why Nathan was alone in his car and the women were with Cooper but that's how the accident happened…Nathan and Rachel had bonded over the experience and suddenly had become Tree Hill's newest couple.
"Maybe you should talk to him—" Lucas spoke carefully.
"Talk to him and say what, Luke? What is there left to say?" I ask him sullenly.
The annulment papers had spoken louder than any words could.